Let there be no misunderstanding.

The international community has given itself fifteen years to achieve the Millennium Goals. This is a crucial challenge for international institutions, particularly for the UN. Newsweek recently ran a headline, in an article about the new Secretary-General, announcing that it was an impossible task. Mid-way between the meeting of Heads of State in New York, in 2000, and the 2015 deadline, it is time to take stock. We have no choice but to be circumspect.

However, all is not lost. There is too much at risk if we fail. A first decisive step can be taken in achieving the last of the goals – reducing the digital divide. Not because this goal is more important than the others, but because it can be achieved by 2015, and all the other goals depend on this achievement.

Creating an information society in which solidarity prevails is no longer a utopian dream. This is for three reasons. The first is that the challenge is shared by public authorities and the private sector, which have the same aims in this area. Secondly, because there are revolutionary technologies on the market, making it possible to achieve things that just yesterday seemed unrealistic. Thirdly, because the introduction of an innovative financial mechanism to achieve this goal – the 1% digital solidarity principle – is in the interest of companies, public authorities and civil society.

We would like to pay homage to President Jacques Chirac who, with President Lula, was the first to plead for such mechanisms to achieve the Millennium Goals. Let there be no misunderstanding – all those who turn a blind eye to this evidence are in denial of justice and solidarity.


Alain Clerc, Executive Secretary